After Lin Jinghan finished her greeting, the emperor didn't want to talk to a country girl anymore. He even ignored Lin Jinghan's mask and asked directly, "I heard that an assassin broke into Prince Jingnan's mansion last night and Prince Jingnan was seriously injured. I wonder if he is feeling better now?"
After last night, Lin Jinghan had not seen Prince Jingnan again, but since the emperor had asked, she naturally could not say so, so she lied:
"It looked scary last night, but it's better this morning. The bleeding has stopped."
"In that case, I am relieved." The emperor nodded and then looked Lin Jinghan over with suspicion in his eyes. "I heard that you can cure the poison of Prince Jingnan?"
"Yes!" She had already boasted last night, and there was no time for her to go back on her word. Besides, Prince Jingnan was not poisoned at all. When he recovered in the future, he would need a reason, right?
The emperor frowned and looked at Lin Jinghan inquiringly for a while. After a moment's thought, he said:
"It seems that you are really the lucky star of King Jingnan. King Jingnan's injury is not something you can take lightly. You need to be more careful."
After that, the emperor casually rewarded Lin Jinghan with some things and let Lin Jinghan leave.
As soon as Lin Jinghan left, the emperor gave a few instructions to the eunuch chief beside him.
The chief eunuch immediately ran to the virtuous concubine and conveyed the emperor's intention to her. At the end, he also reminded her, "My virtuous concubine, the emperor said that as long as you handle this matter, the emperor will not treat you unfairly."
After carefully examining the porcelain vase given to her by the chief eunuch for a while, Concubine Xian smiled expectantly, called over her trusted palace maid, and solemnly handed the porcelain vase to her.
As soon as Lin Jinghan walked out of the Emperor's Palace of Tranquil Longevity, a eunuch waiting outside the door came to greet her:
"Princess Jingnan, I am here on the orders of the Consort Xian to invite you to lunch."
Although Lin Jinghan wanted to leave the palace as soon as possible, she couldn't refuse, so she had to follow the eunuch to the virtuous concubine.
"Who is the virtuous concubine?" Lin Jinghan asked in a low voice the maid who came into the palace with her today, the maid who took her to Prince Jingnan's room last night and had good skills - Shiqin.
"In reply to your question, the virtuous concubine is the daughter of Lin Jingqi, a scholar of the Hanlin Academy." Seeing Lin Jinghan's bewildered face, Shiqin patiently explained:
"Grand Scholar Lin is Prime Minister Lin's cousin. Therefore, Consort Xian is your distant cousin."
There were rumors that the princess had been fostered in the countryside before. After meeting Lin Jinghan in person, Shiqin thought those rumors were absurd. But now, seeing that Lin Jinghan didn't even recognize her own relatives, she was quite surprised. At the same time, she believed the rumors a little bit and developed some different thoughts about the princess in front of her.
Lin Jinghan naturally didn't know about the twists and turns in the maid's mind. Even if she knew, she wouldn't care.
Now she only cared about what this virtuous concubine wanted to do by calling her to eat.
She didn't think that the imperial concubine would spend so much effort to win over a country relative like her.
When I arrived at Concubine Xian's place, she had already prepared lunch.
Regardless of how outsiders viewed Lin Jinghan, her current status was there. Few women in the entire country had a higher status than her. At least, the virtuous concubine couldn't suppress her in terms of status. Therefore, although the virtuous concubine was the only concubine in the palace, she didn't show off in front of Lin Jinghan.
Upon hearing the palace maid announce that Princess Jingnan had arrived, Concubine Xian smiled, stood up, and walked gracefully towards Lin Jinghan. "Today, I learned that Sister Jinghan was coming to the palace. I've been looking forward to speaking with her for a long time, and I'm so glad you're here."
"Empress Xianfei!" Lin Jinghan had asked Shiqin to cram her into the various palace rules along the way. She knew that she didn't need to salute Empress Xianfei, but out of courtesy, she still bowed slightly to her.
The virtuous concubine was very satisfied with Lin Jinghan's attitude. She returned a salute and then kindly took Lin Jinghan to the dining area.
Xianfei pulled Lin Jinghan aside and asked her many questions, most of which were about the recent situation of Prime Minister Lin's family. Lin Jinghan had only been in the Prime Minister's residence for three days, and the number of times she had met with them could be counted on one hand. How could she know the situation of Prime Minister Lin's family? She could only reply a few perfunctorily.
The virtuous concubine asked enthusiastically, but Lin Jinghan answered briefly, and the atmosphere was awkward for a while.
Fortunately, the palace maid brought the dishes up quickly, filling the table. The food was so appetizing that it interrupted the awkward conversation between the two.
Because she had to eat, Lin Jinghan had to take off her mask, revealing her originally beautiful face which now had some red spots.
The virtuous concubine stared at Lin Jinghan's face for two seconds, thinking about what was going to happen next. She felt very uncomfortable, but when she thought about the benefits she could get, she felt relieved.
As usual, she said a few words to Lin Jinghan's face with concern. This time, Lin Jinghan responded with a few more words and did not repeat the previous embarrassment.
"Is this your first time eating imperial cuisine?" She picked up the serving chopsticks and personally picked up a piece of fish for Lin Jinghan. "This is the imperial chef's specialty, West Lake vinegar fish. Try it."
To be on the safe side, Lin Jinghan used the medical space and carefully checked the food and wine. After confirming that there was no poison, she thanked Concubine Xian and ate the fish very readily, not forgetting to praise her.
The two were halfway through their meal when they heard a palace attendant outside shout, "The Emperor has arrived!"
Just as the two of them stood up, the emperor walked in and said cheerfully, "My beloved concubine, I missed your cooking skills so much that I came here uninvited. I hope you won't blame me."
"I am very happy that Your Majesty has come to my place!" Concubine Xian happily greeted him but did not perform any formal ceremony to the emperor. It seemed that the emperor and his concubine had a very good relationship.
"Greetings, Your Majesty!" Lin Jinghan knelt down and saluted.
The emperor seemed to have just discovered Lin Jinghan's presence. He looked at Lin Jinghan's face with a little surprise. He looked at Lin Jinghan deeply for a few more times before letting Lin Jinghan stand up. He then joked with Concubine Xian:
"I forgot that my beloved concubine and Princess Jingnan are cousins. It seems I came at the wrong time."
"Your Majesty has indeed come at a bad time~" Concubine Xian gently helped the Emperor sit on the main seat and said softly,
"Your Majesty is late and will miss lunch. I will punish you by asking you to wait here for a while. I will go and cook for you right away."
At the end, Concubine Xian even joked: "Your Majesty, you must not bully my sister Jinghan."
"In that case, I'll trouble you, my beloved concubine." The emperor and the virtuous concubine were showing off their love without paying any attention to others. Lin Jinghan could only stand aside quietly and act as a light bulb.
When Concubine Xian left, she also took away the palace servants who were serving her. Only Lin Jinghan and the emperor were left in the room.
It would not be a good thing if the news got out that the emperor and his wife were alone in a room.
Lin Jinghan immediately stood up and said goodbye to the emperor:
"Your Majesty, I am worried about my prince's condition. Please allow me to leave first."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
